Blind
by SkyGem
Summary: Natsume goes blind, but not in the way most people would think. Why? Well, you'll just have to look inside. Full summary inside. Please r
1. Lost Sight

Summary: When one day Natsume wakes up, he finds that he can't see ayakashi anymore. Is this cause to celebrate or grieve? Will Natsume be happy or sad?

SkyGem: Hey guys! Well, this idea just popped into my head and I don't think anyone else has done it, so I decided to do it. Please keep in mind that this is my first Natsume Yuujinchou fanfic so it might not be the best.

Disclaimer: Only in my wildest dreams do I own Natsume Yuujinchou.

"Takashi-kun! Time for breakfast!" called a woman's voice from the kitchen downstairs.

"Coming, Touko-san!" I called as I finished brushing my teeth and went downstairs to eat.

As soon as I had eaten, I was on my way out the door. On the way to school I met up with Tanuma and we walked together. We went to our morning classes, had lunch together outside, went to afternoon classes, and then went home. All in all, it was a pretty normal day. That is, it would have been for anyone else, but not for me.

"Hey, Natsume? Is there something wrong?" asked Tanuma.

"Hm? Oh, it's just that, today was so...quiet," I told him.

"Quiet?"

"Yeah, you know how I usually get 'visited' by at least one ayakashi a day?" I asked him.

"Yes?" he said.

"Well, today, there was none."

"Hmm, that is odd. Well, you might as well enjoy the quiet while it lasts, right?"

"I guess," I said, not feeling completely reassured. We walked the rest of the way in a comfortable silence then said our goodbyes.

"I'm home!" I called.

"Welcome home," said Touko-san from the kitchen.

I went upstairs and put my bag down, for some reason feeling exhausted. Suddenly, I felt a pain on the back of my head.

"Ow! What the hell was that for, sensei?" I asked the cat as I truned to face him.

"That was for ignoring these two idiots! They came to me crying that 'Natsume-sama is mad at us!' and 'Why is Natsuma-sama ignoring us?'" said Nyanko-sensei, pointing to thin air.

"What the hell are you talking about sensei? There's no one there!" I yelled, frustrated.

At this, sensei cringed, as if from an extremely loud outburst, turned to the empty place he had just pointed to, and shouted, "I don't know why he's ignoring you, just shut up!" Then he turned to me and said, "Okay, Natsume, what the hell is wrong, why are you so mad at them?"

I was starting to get scared, "Mad at who? Sensei! I honestly have no idea what you're talking about!"

At this, sensei grew really quiet. "No way......" he said really quietly.

"No way, what?" I asked.

"Natsume, now listen I'm going to transform into my natural form and you tell me whether or not you can see me, okay?"

"That's just silly of course I can..." I trailed off as, suddenly, sensei completely disappeared. "Sensei? Sensei! Where are you?" I called, looking around frantically.

Suddenly, I felt something on my face, something like that of the tongue of a cat. "Just as I thought," said a ghostly voice from nowhere, the voice of Madara the ayakashi. "Natsume....you've gone blind."

"Blind?" I asked, confused. "What are you talking about sensei? I can still....." I trailed off again as I understood what he meant. "N-no! T-that's not possible! Please tell me you're joking, sensei!" I shouted.

I turned around, looking for him. It was true, even though I could just barely feel the tickle of his fur on my skin, I couldn't see him at all. Suddenly, the feeling was gone and, there, in front of me, stood Nyanko-sensei in his lucky cat body.

"I'm sorry, Natsume," he said. "But, it seems that you have lost your ability to see ayakashi..."

When he said his, I felt tears trickle down my face. "No, please. Sensei, do something!" I said in a loud whisper.

He shook his head and said again, "I'm sorry......."

I fell to my knees, unable to stay standing. It had finally happened. What I had wished be for ever since I was little, that I would no longer be bothered by youkai. But, now that it had actually happened, I felt an unbearable sadness. I would never be able to help ayakashi again, I would never be able to see the ayakashi I had befriended in the past, but most important of all, I would not be able to finish my mission of returning all the names in the book of friends to their rightful owners.

Never had I imagined that I would feel so lonely once I had given up my burden. Suddenly, a thought popped into my head. I whipped around to look at Nyanko-sensei.

"Sensei, now that I can't see ayakashi anymore, w-will you leave?"

He looked disgusted at just the thought of it. "Of course not, you idiot! We have a deal, and I'm going to stick to it!"

I almost smiled, thinking that this was at least one good thing. Then, I remembered all the great times I'd had with the ayakashi in this area and my grief returned, quickly wiping the smile off my face. Not knowing what else to do, I told Touko-san and Shigeru-san that I would not be coming to dinner and went to sleep.

Over the next few days, I was really upset, and, no matter how hard I tried not to show it, people would ask me whether I was alright or not, I would blow up, and then they would start avoiding me. Finally, after three days of this, Tanuma came up to me and asked, "Okay, Natsume what's wrong?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, come on! You're always gloomy, you don't talk to anyone, and when someone does try to talk to you, you practically bite their head off!" he said. "Now, tell me what's going on!"

I looked at him for a while, then said, "I'm blind."

At this he looked angry, "Be serious!"

"I am! I'm blind! I can't see ayakashi anymore!"

"W-what? Y-you can't see them anymore? But why?"

"I don't know!" I nearly shouted at him.

"I-I'm sorry, Natsume."

Suddenly, I felt too tired to argue anymore, "It's okay," I said and walked away.

SkyGem: So, what did you think? I'm thinking of making this a two-shot but, if no one likes it, why even bother? Please, comment/review and tell me what you think.


	2. We Still Care

SkyGem: Hey guys! Well, this is the conclusion of Blind, I hope you like it.

**Time Skip, 5 years,**

**Natsume P.O.V.**

"I'm home!" I called as I walked in.

"Oh, Takashi-kun! You're home!" called Touko-san as she walked in. "So? How was your first year?"

"It was hard! But, I did pretty good."

"That's good!" she said. "Now, why don't you rest for a while? You must be tired, I'll call you when dinner is ready."

"Okay," I said as I went upstairs to the room that used to be mine. I looked around, feeling a strong sense of nostalgia for my high school days, for my high school companions, and not just the human ones, but the ayakshi ones also. It had already been 5 years since that day and I had learned to cope with being 'blind,' though that didn't mean that I was happy. At times, I still felt lonely, especially since sensei left.

_Flashback_

_"What?You want me to leave? Why you little-"_

_"Wait, sensei, let me explain," I cut him off. "I want you to protect the book of friends, until one day, you find someone from this family that can see ayakashi, then you have the task of helping them return all the names, okay?"_

_"But-"_

_"Please, sensei," I said._

_Looking disgruntled, he finally said, "Fine!"_

_Even though I was happy that he had actually agreed to help, I also felt sad at the same time, and, with tears welling up in my eyes, I said, "I'll miss you, sensei..."_

_"I'll miss you too, brat," said sensei before he disappeared. Once he was gone, I finally allowed the tears to fall, the loneliness tearing me from the inside out. _

_End Flashback_

As I remembered that tearful goodbye, I felt the loneliness afresh. Even after all these years, it hadn't gone away, it had just been put on hold, burried deep inside, waiting for a chance to show.

"Takashi-kun!" called Shigeru-san from downstairs. I went down and ate dinner and then came back up to my room and went to sleep.

The next day, I decided to go explore. The little town hadn't changed much, and that made me feel a little better. I visited many places, like the shrine where I had met sensei, amusingly, the rope still had not been fixed yet, even after all these years. I stayed there, sitting, remembering all the good times, until, over in the bushes, I heard a rustle. Then another. Suddenly, a little kid, about 11 years old came out and turned to look straight at me.

When he saw me, he gave a happy squeal, said, "Natsume!" and rushed at me, hugging me.

"I-I'm sorry, but do I know you?" I asked, confused. The kid had brown, shoulder-length hair, bright, inquisitive eyes, and was wearing a shirt that was a few sizes too big and looked like a dress, he was also wearing a woman's sun hat, the ones with the wide brim. He looked extremely familiar.

"Don't you recognize me, Natsume? I'm the kitsune you helped out long ago!"

_Kitsune? No way! It's really him!_ I thought in surprise. "It's you! What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I heard you were coming home, so I disguised myself as a human and came to find you! I missed you so much, Natsume!"

Listening to him, the sense of longing I had felt yesterday returned, only ten times fiercer. Suddenly, I couldn't help myself, I burst out crying, hiding my face in my hands.

"Natsume? Whats wrong?" asked the kitsune looking worried.

"N-nothing," I said, wiping away my tears. "I-it's just that, I-I guess I miss the old days."

"Old days?"

"Yeah, when I could still see ayakashi."

At this, he looked sad and said, "I'm sorry, Natsume. But, you know, you're not as alone as you might think."

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Hehe, it's true. Natsume, the reason I'm here is because, everyone wanted to let you know that, even though you cannot see us anymore, we're still with you, and we still care about you."

I smiled and said, "Thank you, you don't know how much that means to me."

After that, we spent the entire day together, catching up and having fun together, just like that time at the festival.

That night, while laying in my bed, I suddenly realized something, while I was with the kitsune, I would sometimes see shadows that maybe shouldn't be there, at the time I hadn't thought much about it, but now, it all seemed suspicious to me now. And, though I could not remember it clearly, there were also times when I could just barely feel a comforting presence, like that of a long-time friend. Somewhere in the middle of all this, I got tired and drifted off to sleep.

The next day, I was woken up by a tickling sensation on my skin, and, when I opened my eyes, all I saw was a wide expanse of silky, white fur. At first, I thought I was dreaming, and, when I looked up, that thought was reinforced. Why? Because I was looking straight into the face of Madara, the demon dog, a face I hadn't seen in years. I smiled, enjoying this dream a great deal. I raised my hand to pet him, marveling at how real it felt. I sat up, and when he didn't disappear, I realized that he **was** real.

"S-sensei?" I asked in surprise.

He looked just as surprised as I felt, then, suddenly, his face split into a blissful smile and he said in the voice that I had missed so much, "Natsume........"

Throwing my arms around his neck, I almost shouted, "Sensei!"

We stayed like that for a while, basking in each others presence, then a thought came into my head. _Why is he here?_ Then, suddenly, I remembered what the Kitsune had said yesterday, _"You're not as alone as you might think."_ I also remembered all those shadows that I had seen yesterday. So this was what he meant.

I smiled, also remembering that strange feeling that I had yesterday, that presence. _It was sensei! He never really left me!_

"Welcome back, Natsume............."

SkyGem: Well, that's it. It's not one of my best works, but, the idea was cute and I really wanted to get it down, I just wasn't really paying attention while writing it. So, what did you guys think? Please comment/review.


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